Written in Blood: A True Story of Murder and the Deadly 16-Year-Old Secret that Tore a Family Apart

Michael Peterson was a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, a candidate for mayor and a New York Times best-selling novelist. His wife Kathleen was the first woman ever admitted to the Duke University School of Engineering, a brilliant executive and a loving and fun-filled mother-the last woman who one would expect to become a victim in her own home.

Sin, Shame & Secrets: A True Story of the Murder of a Nun, the Conviction of a Priest, and the Cover-up in the Catholic Church

In this unique and compelling true-crime story, journalist and author David Yonke presents and analyzes the only case in US history in which a Roman Catholic priest was arrested for the murder of a nun. Father Gerald Robinson of Toledo, whom friends and associates described as a timid and mild-mannered man, was arrested by cold-case detectives in April, 2004, and charged in the brutal slaying of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl 24 years earlier.

Before He Wakes: A True Story of Money, Marriage, Sex and Murder

The true story of Barbara Stager, a devoted mother, loving wife, and dedicated church leader who committed an almost perfect crime. By all accounts, Stager seemed to lead the perfect life in her community in Durham, North Carolina. After her husband, popular high school coach Russ, died tragically, the police were inclined to believe her story - that she accidentally shot him. Suspicions rose when the police discovered that Stager's previous husband had died similarly 10 years prior.

Murder, I Write: True Tales of Jealousy, Betrayal, and Revenge

A small town, East Texas love triangle ends in a brutal execution. A teenage girl guns down her loving mother. A drag queen falls in love with a beautiful young woman, resulting in a horrific murder. A woman left for dead by a serial killer refuses to be a victim. These are just four of the cases explored in Murder, I Write, an exciting new anthology by critically acclaimed true crime author Kathryn Casey.

Blood Games: A True Account of Family Murder

A true story detailing the events surrounding the murder of wealthy North Carolinian Lieth von Stein. The case seemed cold until police followed a trail leading to von Stein's stepson, a smart young man who was obsessed with Dungeons & Dragons and wrapped up in drugs.

Garden State Thrill Killers: New Jersey, Notorious USA

Home of the Jersey Devil, New Jersey has its share of other devils, from predatory nurses to thrill killers and sadists. Here you'll find a family that preyed on one of their own, a mass murderer with a list of grudges, an adulterous minister killed with his mistress, and a wife who cut up her husband. This state is rich in crime, with a significant number of high-profile cases, like the Lindbergh and Reso kidnappings, Unruh's rampage, and the celebrated success of America's Most Wanted in tracking down a man who'd slaughtered his entire family.

The Corridor Killer:: Delaware, Notorious USA

The first documented female serial killer in the US came out of the tiny state of Delaware, as did a signature killer who attracted FBI profilers. Political intrigue winds through an unsolved mystery in Wilmington while a high-powered attorney ruined his life to punish his mistress. Here we have poisoners, bludgeoners, and some privileged teenagers who killed their baby. The corridor state between New Jersey and Maryland might be small, but it has harbored some very dark characters.

Della's Web

Darryl Sutorious was spellbound, convinced he'd found the perfect wife. But their honeymoon didn't last long. Beneath Dante Britteon's façade lurked a man-hater born as Della Faye Hall, whose four previous marriages had been spiked with butcher knives, pistols, vandalized houses, and a lover set on fire. By the time Darryl summoned the strength to demand out of the marriage, Della Faye was only too happy to oblige: with a bullet to the brain. Aphrodite Jones traces the intricate web of this fiendishly calculating sexual con artist.

Gone Forever: A True Story of Marriage, Betrayal, and Murder

Susan McFarland watched, powerless, as her husband, Rick McFarland, went into a downhill spiral of get-rich-quick schemes, quirky shopping trips, and prescription-drug abuse. Susan, a rising star at a major corporation, finally had enough. When she decided to call it quits, Rick ended her life, leaving three young boys - ages 5, 8, and 11 - without a mother. A two-month long search by law enforcement and volunteers found no trace of the missing woman....

Mother's Day

In June of I985, while her teenage sons held their half sister down, Theresa Cross beat her I9-year-old daughter, Sheila, unconscious and then stuffed her into a 2' x 2' storage locker. After three days, the knocking, kicking, and cries stopped. Theresa and her sons dumped the girl's body in the desolate High Sierras....

Bitter Blood: A True Story of Southern Family Pride, Madness, and Multiple Murder

In this unrelenting real-life drama of three wealthy families connected by marriage and murder, Bledsoe recounts the shocking events, obsessive love, and bitter custody battles that led toward the bloody climax that took nine lives.

Deliver Us: Three Decades of Murder and Redemption in the Infamous I-45/Texas Killing Fields

Over a three-decade span, more than 20 women - many teenagers - died mysteriously in the small towns bordering Interstate 45, a 50-mile stretch of highway running from Houston to Galveston. The victims were strangled, shot, or savagely beaten.

The Woodchipper Murder

Even though the Newtown, Connecticut, police listed Helle Crafts's disappearance as a routine missing person case, Keith Mayo, a private investigator, knew the Danish-born mother of three hadn't skipped town nine days before Thanksgiving... Rita Buonanno remembers the words exactly: If anything happens to me don't think it was an accident." Helle Crafts was last seen on November 18, 1986.

I'd Kill for You

After her mother's untimely death, Clara Schwartz became distant, withdrawn. Her father, a renowned DNA researcher, lived in a farmhouse outside Leesburg, Virginia, where in December 2001 he was fatally stabbed by what seemed to be a ninja-style sword. Police arrested Kyle Hulbert, a troubled teen - and aspiring vampire. Kyle was Clara's friend, one of a circle obsessed with role-playing games.

In August 2009 former madam Dalia Dippolito conspired with a hit man to arrange her ex-con husband's murder. Days later it seemed as if all had gone according to plan. The beautiful young Dalia came home from her health club to an elaborate crime scene, complete with yellow tape outlining her townhome and police milling about. The only thing missing from the murder scene was an actual murder.

Death Trap

At Jessica McCord's house, law enforcement officials found windows covered in blankets, a cache of weapons and ammunition, carpets torn up, new tile on the floors, and the couch missing. Then they learned about the nasty divorce and bitter custody battle that had landed Jessica in jail. Along with her new police officer husband, Jessica became the prime suspect in this brutal double murder.

September Sacrifice

"If I'm ever late for work, call the police!" That's what Albuquerque, New Mexico, bank teller Girly Chew, 36, told her boss. The Malaysian-born beauty lived in mortal fear of her pathologically deranged husband and had taken out a restraining order against him. She was late for work for the first - and last - time on September 10, 1999. Her bloodstained clothes were found near a lonely stretch of desert highway. Chew's estranged spouse was an unrepentant scam artist with a terrifying violent streak.

A Deadly Secret: The Bizarre and Chilling Story of Robert Durst

Based on interviews with family, friends, and acquaintances of Durst, law enforcement, and others involved in the case, A Deadly Secret is a cross-country odyssey of stolen IDs and multiple identities that raises baffling questions about one of the country's most prominent families - and one of its most elusive suspected killers.

One Deadly Night

On September 28, 2000, former Indiana state trooper David Camm made a frantic call to his former colleagues in the state troopers office: He had just walked into his garage and found lying on the floor the bodies of his 35-year-old wife Kim and their two children Brad and Jill, ages seven and five. Three days later, things got worse when police arrested David Camm for the triple murder. Soon new stories started emerging about mistresses and violent bursts of temper.

Doc: The Rape of the Town of Lovell

For twenty-five years, the trusted family doctor in a small Wyoming town had been raping and molesting the women and children who most relied on him. Mostly Mormons, the naive victims sometimes realized on their wedding nights the truth about what had happened in Dr. Story's office.

To Hatred Turned

The author of Murder in Boston recounts the true story of the murder of Rozanne Gailiunas, a crime unsolved for eight years, until a glamorous fugitive is caught after one of the most publicized investigations ever in Texas.

I'll Be Watching You

In September 2001 Carmen Rodriguez, a beautiful 32-year-old Hartford mother of four, went missing. At first police were stymied - until a killer's crucial mistake led investigators down a long, dark road of cold, calculated murder.

Publisher's Summary

Michael Peterson was a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, a candidate for mayor and a New York Times best-selling novelist. His wife, Kathleen, was the first woman ever admitted to the Duke University School of Engineering, a brilliant executive and a loving and fun-filled mother - the last woman who one would expect to become a victim in her own home.

When her body was found at the foot of a stairway in her Durham home, Michael Peterson said that she had fallen. When an autopsy proved his story to be a lie, the death of another woman 16 years earlier came under suspicion. He was the last person to see Liz Ratliff before she, too, was found dead at the bottom of the stairs in Germany. These two suspicious deaths painted a dark portrait of a once-respected man.

This book was really interesting. It was very hard to put down between listens. The story was infuriating - how some slick operators manage to get away with terrible acts - but told in the very detailed, thorough way I like. The fact that the perp was a NY Times bestselling author made it all the more fascinating.

The book is well written, with no annoying defects that I could see. True-crime lovers will want to add this to their collection.

Very interesting crime novel. Saw the story on ID, which I found interesting, but the detail in the book makes it a great story. Highly recommend the narrator!Note to author: Granniss is excellent - your other narrators ... Cyndee Maxwell and Shelby must have been cheap b/c they are the pits!

It's one thing for a non-fiction author to have a point of view, but this author seems to have an axe to grind. She starts out really well, but about halfway through the author turns so biased and snarky it actually took me right out of the narrative. Part of what's so mind-blowing and fascinating about this story is how impossible it is to know whether Peterson is a multiple murderer or a tragic victim of coincidence and prosecutorial over-reach. I can't think of another case where BOTH sides have such strong circumstantial arguments and neither side has any real proof. So when the author starts sounding like a scornful opposition politican instead of a credible reporter of facts, all I could think of was "why the obvious agenda?" Worse, I kept wondering what REALLY happened, because it didn't feel like I was getting it straight. Ultimately, she didn't convince me of his guilt. If anything her obvious bias made me question her point of view more than it made me question Peterson's innocence.

With all that said, I still finished it. The narration was very good, and there was never a moment when I didn't want to know more. She has a lot of interesting facts and anecdotes, and this truly is one of the most fascinating true stories I've ever come across. But I think she torpedoes herself by making those facts feel like opinions and the fascinating story feel like a closing argument.

If you have never read about this amazing case (or if you have never seen the excellent multi-part documentary on the case called "The Staircase"), you might want to pick up this book despite all that. It's a great read, even if it isn't great factual reporting.

This is one of the better Dianne Fanning books I have listened to in a while. Story was well written and the narrative well formulated. The performance was also very good. On the critical side, It was quite biased in parts and I wish that there had been an updated section on the developments of this case in the last couple of years. However it presents a good detailed starting point for anyone interested in the case.

I tossed up buying this book because I had seen the Staircase and had read something of the case, but Fanning's book provided a lot of detail I hadn't previously come across so it was well worthwhile from that perspective. In the end, it didn't answer the question for me, I still don't know whether this is a case of spectacular coincidence or murder, but it is a fascinating read and I highly recommend it for true crime fans. As for the narration, Rob Granniss has a very pleasant voice, but his rising intonation for statements (in English raising the voice towards the end of a sentence indicates that it is a question) was really irritating.

The book is good, but the narrator's habit of ending sentences like they are a question really drives me nuts. For example: The written sentence may be "They drove to Durham for the holidays." and his narration is "They drove to Durham for the holidays?" This may seem like a little thing, but when it happens constantly out of context it gets VERY annoying.

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